This study examines parental disciplinary techniques and other methods of influencing the behavior of children. The situational determinants of these techniques such as age of children, nature of children's transgressions and nature of parents' child rearing goals as well as the effects of specific techniques on children's behavior will be investigated. In the first phase of this study, 64 mothers and their 4-year old children were studied using a laboratory compliance task that assessed mother's influence techniques and their effects on children's immediate and longterm compliance. The second phase will focus on discipline with children of different ages. Data on naturally occuring discipline will be obtained from detailed descriptions of children's behavior and parental influence strategies made by parents trained in observational recording. Data will also be obtained from recorded interactions of parents and their children in standard influence interventions in the home and in the laboratory.